Sid Stromsdorfer

Who are you? What do you do? What is your company all about? Just some questions I run in my mind when I am meeting with a new client. Trying to figure out pictorially/graphically, and typographically what their business will become. Their logo. The logos below each have a particular focal point to their presence. Let’s begin…

The Law Office of Rachael Zeiph Burley, is a family law practice. The business card that Ms. Zeiph Burley had was functional. It did not capitalize on her name and make her stand out in a shared space of other family law practices. The main aspect that presented itself with respect to her practice, was her surname Zeiph Burley. Upon further investigation through Google, and then Wikipedia, I found out what or whom that surname was, and what they did. Not even Ms. Zeiph Burley was aware…

A scholar/transcriber of religious documents who shared the very same surname: Zeiph. Took what was transcribed in Hebrew to Greek, and vice versa. These scrolls were then held, and cataloged in the famous Library of Alexandria, Egypt. Now whether this scholar and Ms. Zeiph Burley are related remains to be seen. But their common bond is this surname. One that you don’t hear all that much. And it does stick out. Which is why I used a script font: French Script MT to display it prominently. A bit of elegance, and class in a very serious profession – family law.

HERS Breast Cancer Foundation, Fremont, CA. Was started out of a garage in Pleasanton, CA, selling bras to breast cancer patients. I was commissioned to do the typography for their name, and to make it match and work with the illustration. The illustration is an original drawing created by Laurel Burch, and gifted to HERS as part of their logo for their non-profit. The non-profit is associated with the Washington Hospital, Fremont, CA.

My task was to find a font that reflected the energy contained in Ms. Burch’s drawing, and complement it. I chose decorative and script fonts to emulate this movement. Bickley Script was the font that brought out the best character in the illustration. The second font used was Gentle Sans – Regular and Light.

When I first saw how HERS was using their illustration/logo in promotional material(s) they relied upon either a pink stock or generic pink ink, calibrated off of their office printers. The original drawing that Ms. Burch did of the women is in full, warm, colors. The pink that I chose came from the flower off the middle woman’s ear. It was then turned into a global spot color, identified from now on as HERS Pink.

Metta Wellness Center, San Ramon, CA, a true place of health and healing. The logo is based on several aspects: the building that housed the holistic health center; an oak tree leaf; lastly the Chinese symbol you see in the center of the logo. That symbol translates to heaven and earth. The colors were derived from the interior paint of the office spaces. Because this logo was to reflect balance, and energy at once typography had to be as calm, and substantial as possible. Goudy Old Style was chosen. If you look closely at the turned up serif to the font it mimics the flair to the Chinese symbol at its tips.

Cardinal Construction, Pleasanton, CA, this was a makeover for an established company that does interior/exterior full remodel of existing residential spaces. Their name is based off of a town football league in Pleasanton, CA. The colors originally were burgundy and black on a white background. The logo at that time had nothing to do with construction of living spaces.

My task after meeting with one of the owners – Anthony Neto, was to bring an aspect of construction back into the logo. Color would either stay the same, and alternate color combinations  would be presented as well. At the time of this project, the apartment building that I was a resident at was undergoing remodel. I decided to take a tour of a basement studio apartment. The drywall was being screwed in at the time of my visit, and that is when I decided to head to Ace Hardware for a drywall screw. I also had photos of screws embedded into the drywall; I took my time to watch how the screws were going into the surface of the material and dimpling it.

The logo is a very stylized version of the shadows produced by strong light on the surface/flat head of the screw and the drywall. You can see that we did not stay with the burgundy and black color combination that Cardinal Construction had for over 25 years. The blue was chosen by the client.

My final logo for this posting is Shy Marketing, a marketing consortium whose members are based around the San Francisco Bay Area. The owner of the company, Ronald Bolden needed a logo that reflected the help he would provide for his clientele. Most of whom had great products or services, but were too shy about tooting their own horns. It was that support, a lending of the hand that Mr. Bolden would provide. A photo of my hand cupped helped to provide the base or bones for this logo. A traditional font: Garamond was chosen to reflect stability, and a sense of friendliness. During my first meeting with Mr. Bolden, I asked him what colors he liked. The combination that we chose was a reflection of reaching for the stars at night… as close to a midnight blue and yellow to emulate the light from those stars or wishes his clients had surrounding the growth of their businesses.

As you can see, logo design is a collaboration and a dance between the designer and the client. What comes about has a sense of style from the designer, as they stir the project, and fine tune it. But the flavor and personality rely heavily upon the client, their likes, and the product they will be presenting and providing to the consumer.

I’d like to introduce you to John Sullivan. I met John, and his wife, Pat, through Unity of Berkeley, Berkeley, California. We are members and friends, fast becoming collaborative partners in marketing for our church. John is currently retired, but not from life and what his passions are. One of them is to be of service to those of us that are running wild professionally and have no time for the small things in life, such as: organization, errands, dog walking, and translations from Latin to English and then back again. The one profession, I think that pervades every aspect of John, his service to others, and his philosophy in life, is that as a former priest for the Catholic Church.

One of my pleasures as a member of Unity of Berkeley, and a friend to John is his duty as the “Sunday Announcer” for the bulletin at church, during the close of service. His approach is that of a religious straight man. Dry like a good white wine or champagne if you please. And, as always, very humble. What I am about to post is a bit less humble and more energetic owing to the demand of busy people and their schedules. I was asked to design a marketing mailer for John… 4″ x 6″. Full color please, and here is what we want it to say… Well I did as the little design voices told me to do and I punked John out or up a bit. I actually gave John several ideas for the front. I pushed the comfort zone of my client and friend and then brought him back down to reality. I figured, given the dry humor, and former profession as a priest, God would allow me to have some fun. God did. And John went with a classic rendition of himself, owing to the Latin in him.

Below, please see the punked version of John Sullivan and then his classic resolve. I have followed this up with the back of the card. Please enjoy…

My attempt with this design was to convey the chaos that John rescues his clients from, and his hidden priestly comedian…

This is classical design… I went for the end result of order, and calm, which John brings to the project. As well, his outer presence to the world is one of calm and order…

This is the backside to the postcard. One of calm and warmth… conveying a pleasure to serve.

It was well worth the wait! You will be able to see from my previous posting featuring design manicures that the Japanese character for the word: East is much bolder and full of energy and movement. Sayaka Matsumoto, an instructor, and former student of East Bay Judo Institute, had the character hand drawn. The character was inserted  into the final design for their re-branding of  their institute. A full digital file has been provided to the client. They are now able to manipulate this logo in any way they need to with respect to any design project. This includes artwork for the internet. Below is one of the T-shirt designs created for East Bay Judo Institute. Please enjoy…

Now, a local story about a local non-profit: Peacemakers Inc., San Leandro, California.

Just a short story on Peacemakers Inc. and their established identity. This is a non-profit located in the Bay Area/SF. This organization works with several school districts. Bringing down the level of violence in the classrooms and school grounds. So that the students might begin to come to school comfortable in the knowledge that they will no longer experience any form of bodily harm. They also institute educational contracts between the school, teachers, students and parents, so that the level of academic excellence can be improved upon. The three R’s – Reading, Writing, and Arithmatics.

Above you see the end result of their finished logo; its main theme taken from an earlier logo – the family unit. Taken into consideration were the colors to the logo – focusing in on crayon colors. The child held in the parent’s arm is actually the capital letter “P” from the font family: Edwardian Script. The other font used to convey the logo is: Georgia – Bold, a serif font.

There are some very clear boundries here – color and fonts when building upon a marketing piece. Most importantly, to have a consistent look across the board when putting your best company foot forward in public. Sometimes I see businesses that have invested in a logo, and the owner of the company, does not obey the ground rules that the graphic designer developed for their look and product display. It is why, when you have a logo established that a continued relationship with the designer/client is a must. Even if you the client are now building marketing material off that identity, and no longer involving the designer. Pay attention. Pay close mind to the font family that is now creating your look. Pay attention to the colors of your logo, and what you are going to produce for a marketing piece from that logo.

Below is one of many brochures that Peacemakers Inc. produced and published to get their word/work out to the school districts, mentors and corporate mentors. For its time of creation, servicable. Their previous identity, and marketing pieces were scattered in look. And the multitude of identities out there, including marketing text/theme/philosophy varied. No coehesion. Leaving an impression of company that did not have the weight, experience, and result proven product they possesed.

Here is the end result for the brochure product once client base, and logo/identity were taken into full consideration.

The interior of the brochure…

As a person contemplating work with this established non-profit, even a corporation looking to donate time with professionals/money, you might consider their cause more readily than before. Pictures, logo, and marketing text convey a thousand words. One being, we know what we are doing, we deliver and we strive forward in our mission and growth. We look forward to your active participation and partnership.

Sometimes clients will come in with a fairly strong idea or an idea that they really want developed fully. Just to their design aspiration. It is something that just needs a bit of sprucing up. Strengthening, and curtailing when the professional boundaries get crossed or mixed up do to  level of expertise. These are sometimes the most challenging of identity developments. I try to stay true to the character that is present in the rough concept, but clear out those rough edges. Bring in the elements of the design that may be floating about. And really concentrate on the type of font that will convey the character of the logo and the business that it is representing; putting forth to the public.

Above is the sister division to Peacemakers’ Inc., San Leandro, California – YourWellbeingness.com. This division of Peacemakers’ Inc., is going to foster nutrition and changes in family lifestyles, with every student that participates in Peacemakers’ Inc. This logo’s strength lies in its use of color, the organic shapes, and the attempt in a program that cannot facilitate movement:  MS Word. I hauled in this logo as it was set up, and began to retrace the images in Illustrator CS2. Below is the finished logo. A fine dance in compromise between a marketing professional and me, the graphic designer.

My next client needing a manicure… The Johnston Group LLC

I did not have to think about color as the client had defined it to their liking. The major focus to the logo was the J in the blue field. Several variations of positioning and sizing were given to the client, with the option of going back to the original concept. We focused back on the original concept. One area of concentration to strengthen this understated design was with fonts. We have a decorative font for the company name, and in this rough concept you can see that there is a serif and san serif being used to convey name, title and contact information. It makes for some incohesion to the overall design.

When you make a conscious decision to use a decorative font in your logo, you’ll need to keep the rest of the cast calm, cool, and collected in order to show off that funny/fancy font; decorative fonts are fun and fancy. Even when paired with a semi-conductor company. We were going for a touch of strength, and a hint of fancy. The rest of the crowd needed to show up in black dresses and tuxes. Here is the final resolve for the front of the business card.

The last client needing a manicure… East Bay Judo Institute

This is a design story that can begin with the words, “All good things come to those who wait.” I have been waiting to clean this logo up ever since I first laid eyes on it. My good neighbor, Sayaka Matsumoto, is the daughter, former/current student, and teacher in this Olympic producing Judo school. There are many visual representations of this capable institute out in the public eye. And, I am here to say that not one of them looks like the other. I have been hired to produce logos for atheltic wear, but upon seeing the copy that Sayaka sent me, and then witnessing all the other derivations on the theme out there I felt I had to reign in the rules on company icons. Logo branding is a bit like the word/term/phrase:  location, location, location. Or, consistency, consistency, consistency. Otherwise you will not be recognized so well. Even if you send world class athletes to the Olympics, and plan to in the future. I will post below our current clean up done in Illustrator CS2. We are waiting upon a hand done reporduction of the symbol in black depicting the word – East. Please look for designs in the future of the athletic wear we will be developing. For now, the remastered symbol I have created is a place holder for that symbol. As you can see, we have clamed and strengthened the institute’s logo.